Sir Thomas Overbury

Sir Thomas Overbury.Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Sir Thomas Overbury, (baptized June 18, 1581, Compton Scorpion, Warwickshire, England—died September 15, 1613, London), English poet and essayist, victim of an infamous intrigue at the court of James I. His poem A Wife, thought by some to have played a role in precipitating his murder, became widely popular after his death, and the brief portraits added to later editions established his reputation as a character writer.

Overbury was educated at Oxford and entered the Middle Temple, London, in 1598. Having traveled in the Low Countries, in 1606 he became secretary and close adviser to Robert Carr, the king’s favourite who was to become earl of Somerset. Overbury was knighted in 1608, and Carr became Viscount Rochester in 1611.

That same year Rochester became enamoured of Frances Howard, wife of the Earl of Essex. Lady Essex soon secured a divorce from her husband with the intention of marrying Rochester. Overbury feared that Rochester’s prospective marriage would reduce his own influence over Rochester, however, and he tried strongly to dissuade the latter from marrying her. Overbury’s A Wife, which described the virtues that a young man should demand of a woman, was also circulating in manuscript at the court, where it was interpreted as an indirect attack on Lady Essex. Her powerful relatives tried to maneuver Overbury out of the way by having him appointed to diplomatic missions overseas, but he refused to go and was imprisoned in the Tower of London on a charge of treason. Rochester acceded to Overbury’s imprisonment only until he could marry Lady Essex, but she herself was evidently determined to have Overbury murdered there. She secretly arranged to have him slowly poisoned to death, which he was.

Three months after Overbury died, Rochester, now Earl of Somerset, married Lady Essex. Two years passed before public suspicions were aroused over what had taken place, but then investigations were undertaken and the participants in Overbury’s murder were put on trial. Four accomplices in the murder were convicted and executed; the Earl and Countess of Somerset were also convicted but were pardoned by the king.

Overbury’s A Wife was published in 1614 and went through several editions within a year because of the publicity aroused by Overbury’s death. Its real literary value lies in the Characters, ultimately 82, that were added to the second and subsequent editions. These prose portraits of Jacobean types, drawn with wit and satire, give a vivid picture of contemporary society and are important as a step in the development of the essay. Several were by Overbury, but most were contributed by John Webster, Thomas Dekker, and John Donne.